Book bans kill inspiration, independent thought
Imagine a swearing, stewing, spewing patron telling a movie theater manager to stop showing a particular movie. It’s likely the manager will ask what the patron finds offensive and objectionable. What if the patron then responded that he or she never saw the film? The scenario is ghoulish, but a similar scourge — adults seeking to ban books in school libraries or public libraries — is proliferating.
Illinois recently outlawed book bans. But just in 2022, book banning, a degenerate first cousin to book burning, had been reported in over 30 states. Often lawmakers are the ones doing the pressuring. In 2021 in Texas, Republican state Rep. Matt Krause sent a letter to the Texas Education Agency and school superintendents, asking if their schools carried 850 books he compiled that "might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex."
Book banning advocates like Krause claim they’re protecting their children’s cobweb sensibilities from ideas, ideology and information that (the horror!) provoke independent thought.
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Last week, WBEZ's Natalie Moore wrote about how I Know Why the Caged Bird Sing by Maya Angelou mesmerized her, making it impossible for her to stop reading. Her father wanted her to put it down. He objected to a scene in which Angelou was raped, and compelled her to return the book. Yet he refused to insist the library ban the book. Moore returned the book but checked it out again. Angelou’s words inspired the future writer.
Tracie Hall, former head of the American Library Association, traverses the world railing against censorship and championing intellectual freedom. At one time it was illegal to teach enslaved people how to read. There’s a different the strategy now — ban books that will inspire and illuminate the reader.
That’s terroristic.
Marc D. Greenwood, Opelika, Alabama
Revolving doors of corruption
Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele's willful hiring of Jon Snyder, the former Porter County, Indiana assessor who pleaded guilty to a federal tax-related charge, is just one example of continuity with the Chicago and Cook County's cozy, historic relationship with corruption.
The Sun-Times Editorial Board, on Tuesday, called U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall's two-year sentence of former Ald. Ed Burke (14th) “another welcome blow to the old ‘Chicago way’ of backroom deals at the expense of honest government,” which is certainly true. The Snyder hiring, though, reported on a day later, seems like an affirmation of the Chicago way. It always seems to be one step forward and two steps back, unfortunately.
Daniel Kassl, Ravenswood
Make adult decisions when voting
They lie to get out of trouble. They blame — it’s always someone else’s fault. With more lying, they slander others. They often have an offensive tantrum, and need a time-out. They call each other names — they like name-calling. Sometimes they threaten. They make up wild stories and pretend that they’re true. Many children do these things.
Many children also whine and cheat. They deflect. They routinely blame others for what they themselves actually did. As adults it is our job to teach children to stop all of that petty nonsense. And to teach them about respect, values, learning, pride, sharing, responsibilities, how to make principled decisions and how to be a good person.
We must hope that someday they will grow up, like we did. What a terrible shame if someone never grows up, and persists in juvenile, childish behavior, over and over and over. There is no place in the adult world for the spoiled, lying, disgraceful, obnoxious brat. My advice is to please, in any election, vote for a grown-up.
Mark Bromann, Wheaton